TOPIC:

Some Introductory Facts about Bible Prophecy  

1. The main theme of Bible prophecy is Jesus Christ (Re. 19:10; Lu. 24:44-46). If we study prophecy and fail to see Jesus, we have missed the main message. The main purpose of the Bible is to reveal God, and the fullest revelation of God is Christ, God manifest in the flesh. The reason God has given His revelation to mankind is that fallen men might be brought back into right relationship with Him through Christ, that we might know Him personally and grow in our knowledge of Him forever. John 17:3 says that eternal life is to know God in Christ, and this knowledge is revealed in the Bible. Ephesians 1:8-17 says the mystery of God’s will, which is contained in Scripture, is to redeem sinners and ultimately to bring all things together in Christ. This is God’s great plan that is revealed in the Bible and it will culminate in the new heaven and new earth. 

2. Prophecy in the Bible refers not merely to the foretelling of future events, but to divine revelation in general. The “more sure word of prophecy” refers to the entire New Testament, not merely to future events (2 Pe. 1:19-21). 

3. There are two types of prophesying: forthtelling and foretelling, or preaching and prediction. The prophets of old practiced both aspects. Bible prophecies are composed of a mixture of preaching and prediction, forthtelling and foretelling. You can see this in any of the prophets. Isaiah chapter one, for example, is mostly forthtelling (verses 2-24). Only verses 25-30 are foretelling of future events. New Testament prophecy is also composed both of preaching (forthtelling) and foretelling (1 Co. 14:3). With the completion of the Canon of Scripture, the gift of prophetic foretelling ceased, but there remains the gift of preaching or forthtelling (2 Timothy 4:2).  

-By David Cloud-

this "modern" version of what humans believe is "God" have only 2000 years, so nothing in human history.

To discredit God's Holy Word is  'the hiss of the serpent'.


Isaiah 14:12-17 (KJV)

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying,
Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof;
that opened not the house of his prisoners?

Why Every Christian Should Study Prophecy 

Most churches are very weak in educating the people about Bible prophecy. The people might have a vague idea about some of the major events of Bible prophecy, but they don’t understand prophecy clearly. They don’t know much, if anything, about Isaiah or Ezekiel or Zechariah or Malachi. 

Following are some of the reasons why Bible prophecy should be studied: 

1. Prophecy is necessary to understand the Bible. About one-third of the Bible is prophecy. 

2. Prophecy is a blessing (Re. 1:3). God has promised a special blessing to the individual who reads, hears, and obeys Bible prophecy. 

3. Prophecy is necessary for spiritual perfecting (2 Ti. 3:16-17). We are told that ALL Scripture is given by God and is profitable for the building of the mature Christian, and prophecy forms a large part of Scripture. According to the Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, the Bible contains 1,817 prophecies comprising 8,352 verses, forming 27% of Scripture. The study of, understanding of, and obedience to prophecy is therefore essential for a strong Christian life. Pastors should aim to preach all of the Bible, which is one reason why expository preaching is so important. 

Bible prophecy gives hope in a hopeless world (Ro. 15:4).
It gives joy (Joh. 8:56).
It gives comfort in trials (1 Th. 4:18; Isa. 40:1-2).
It gives understanding in the midst of confusion (Da. 9:1-2). 
It produces diligence and moral purity (Ro. 13:11-14; 1 Joh. 3:1-3).
It produces patience and endurance in the midst of troubles (2 Co. 4:16-18).
It stimulates zealous Christian service (1 Co. 15:51-58).
It brings this life into proper perspective with eternity (2 Co. 4:17-18).  

4. Prophecy is light in a dark world (2 Pet. 1:19-21). Here we see that this world is dark. Bible prophecy contains more light than we could find in all of the world’s universities combined. 

5. It is our responsibility to study prophecy (Lu. 24:25-27). The Lord Jesus Christ rebuked the disciples for not believing prophecy. At the judgment seat of Christ every Christian will be held accountable for whether or not he believed the prophecies of the Bible. In light of this warning, we must reject the tendency by many to treat prophecy lightly. The interpretation of prophecy is not a “non-essential” matter. Not only will the Christian be held accountable for his attitude toward prophecy, but the unbeliever will be, as well. In Luke 16:29-31, Abraham told the rich man in hell that his unsaved brothers on earth would be accountable for whether or not they believed the prophets. 

6. Prophecy is sure evidence that the Bible is God’s Word, and God Himself uses it as such. Through the prophet Isaiah, God addresses the nations and challenges them to show the future to thus prove that their gods are true gods (Isa. 41:22-23; 44:6-7; 45:21-22; 46:9-10). Bible prophecy is intended to be an apologetic to prove the divine inspiration of Scripture. Fulfilled prophecy proves the divine origin of the Bible to unbelievers and increases the faith of believers. We must observe that to be effective as evidence, prophecy must be fulfilled and interpreted literally.  

Professor Peter Stoner, Professor Emeritus of Science at Westmont College, examined the probabilities of just eight of the 456 prophecies being fulfilled concerning Jesus Christ. He said the probability would be one in 10 to the 17th power. That would be like putting a mark on a coin, then putting that coin in the midst of enough coins to cover the state of Texas or the country of India two feet thick, then having a blind man wander all over the ocean of coins and pick out a coin at random. The chance that he would find the marked coin is equal to the chance of only eight of the Messianic prophecies coming to pass! It is impossible that someone could describe eight unique things about a man who will be born in the future. Only God can do that. We are not talking about general things, but things that pertain only to that individual, including the time and place of his birth. There are not merely eight prophecies about Christ in the Bible, though. There are 456!  

7. Prophecy describes the believer’s future. Born again Christians have a portion in the things promised in Bible prophecy! The New Testament believer will enjoy the blessings spoken of in Old Testament prophecy, including the millennial reign of Christ (Col. 3:4; Re. 2:26-27), the renewed creation (Ro. 8:18-25), and the New Jerusalem (Re. 21-22). There are hundreds of prophecies directly related to the believer’s future. 

8. Prophecy challenges believers to preach the gospel to unbelievers before it is too late. Prophecy teaches us that Christ could come at any time, so there is no promise of tomorrow for the unbeliever. It teaches us that “behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Co. 6:2).  

-By David Cloud-

The stage is set today for the literal fulfillment of the prophecies.

Everything is ready. The machinery for a one-world government and a one-world religion as described in Revelation 13 and 17 is being set up before our eyes. The technology is in place to control the world’s commerce as described in Revelation 13:16-17 and for the people of the world to observe the events described in Revelation 11:8-10. Most importantly, the nation Israel is back in her land in fulfillment of Ezekiel 37:1-14 [Ezekiel said she would return first in a spiritually-dead condition, verse 8] and in preparation for the literal fulfillment of the rest of her prophecies. She is making preparations to build the third temple, which will be desecrated by the Antichrist. She is looking for a peace-making, temple-building Messiah, which is exactly what the Antichrist will be at the beginning of his reign when he makes a seven-year covenant with Israel as per Daniel 9:27. This supports the doctrine that God has not rejected the nation Israel in a permanent sense or replaced Israel with the Church, but has only temporarily set Israel aside until He is ready to fulfill His covenants with her. This is clearly taught in Romans 11:25-29. 

-By David Cloud-